TABLE OF CONTENTS Simulation of micromachined systems and sensors is becoming increasingly important. The motivation here is similar to that of the simulation of purely electronic VLSI circuits: before fabricating a prototype, one wishes to virtually build the device and predict its behavior. This allows for the optimization of the various design parameters according to the specifications. As it is a virtual device, parameters can be changed much more quickly than actually fabricating a prototype, then redesigning and fabricating it again. This considerably reduces the time to market and also the cost to develop a commercial device. Simulation software tools for electronic circuits are very mature nowadays, and the level of realism is striking. Often the first fabricated prototype of a novel circuit works in a very similar way as predicted by the simulation. In MEMS, however, this degree of realism cannot be achieved in many cases for two reasons. First, the simulation tools have not reached a similar maturity as their electronic equivalents; and second, and more importantly, simulation of MEMS devices is much more complex. A MEMS device typically comprises many physical domains such as mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical. All these domains interact and influence each other, making the problem orders of magnitude more difficult.
Any MEMS simulation software uses either of two approaches:
System level (or behavioral or reduced order or lumped parameter) modeling: This approach captures the main characteristics of a MEMS device. It provides a quick and easy method to predict the main behavior of...
